


Parenthood

by TooLateToFall



Series: Space Parents [7]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, No Spoilers, Pre Release, babies are difficult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 15:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10282511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooLateToFall/pseuds/TooLateToFall
Summary: Or: Being a parent is hard.Alec and Ellen are awoken in the middle of the night, yet again, by their new twins.





	

“It’s your turn,” Ellen murmurs sleepily into her pillow as a cry sounds from down the hallway. When her husband doesn’t reply, she throws an arm haphazardly over his face, eliciting a grumble. “Alec….the baby…”

“I thought we were each taking a twin,” he yawns, rolling over and pulling the blankets tighter about himself. “That sounds like Sara.”

“No way, that’s Scott.” She presses her feet into Alec’s back, steadily pushing him towards the edge of the bed. “It’s all you.”

He pushes back with a halfhearted glare. “Ellen, that’s not-” Another cry joins the first, and both the parents groan. “ _That’s_ Scott.” They lie there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, willing the other to move. Finally, Alec speaks. “Maybe if we leave them, they’ll cry themselves out?”

Ellen rolls her eyes. “We’d get another noise complaint from the neighbors first.” She pulls herself out of bed. “C’mon. Cross your fingers it’s not another dirty diaper.”

Together, they venture down the hall, pausing only to brace themselves in the nursery’s doorway. The twins’ wailing is practically deafening to their sleep-deprived minds. Ellen gives Alec a wry smile. “Do you want the calm or the storm?”

“You know me,” Alec grins back, stepping in and scooping up Sara. “I love a challenge.” He presses a kiss to the screaming baby’s nose. “Hi Trouble.”

“Bless you,” sighs Ellen, lifting Scott out of his bassinet and greeting him with a tired smile. “Hi little Sunshine,” she coos. Unlike his sister, Scott quiets immediately, his loud wailing subsiding to soft hiccups and smiles.

“I told you Sara started it.” Sara _always_ starts it. “Think she’s hungry?”

“She shouldn’t be; I was up feeding them both an hour ago,” Ellen grumbles. “She’s probably just colicky.”

“We’ll go walk then. See if I can’t get her calmed down. You okay with Scott?”

Ellen glances down at Scott, who lets out a quiet giggle and reaches for her hair. Despite her overwhelming exhaustion, she smiles. “We’ll be just fine. I’ll rock him for a bit; see if I can’t convince him to go back to sleep.”

 

 

It takes half an hour, but when Alec returns to the nursery, Sara is snoring softly in his arms- and she’s not the only one asleep. In the chair, Ellen snores loudly, head tipped back. In her arms, Scott babbles cheerily. It’s all Alec can do to keep from laughing.

Carefully, he lays Sara down in her bassinet, then gently shakes Ellen awake. “Ellen… hey, Ellen.” He returns her sleepy expression with a fond smile. “Why don’t you give me Scott, and go back to bed?”

“Mmmkay,” she hums back, carefully lifting Scott into her husband’s arms, pressing a sleepy kiss to his cheek, and padding out of the room.

Luckily for Alec, Scott proves less challenging than his sister. A few minutes of rocking, and the baby boy is out like a light, drooling all over Alec’s shoulder.

After returning Scott back to his bassinet, Alec returns to bed. The clock on the bedside table reads 3:35. Despite his best efforts to remain quiet, Ellen stirs as he sinks into bed.

“Scott asleep?” She murmurs. He hums in the affirmative, pulling her to him, and she lets out a sigh. “We can do this, right? This whole parenting thing. It’s not so bad.”

Her words jumble together and he’s not sure that she’s fully awake to hear his reply, but he smiles anyway, and presses a kiss to her forehead.

“Yeah. We can do this.”


End file.
